Fire Rescue Scene

From my studies of early films, it seems filmmakers at the turn of the 20th Century were fascinated with, perhaps more so than with any other subject, fire and firemen at work. That fascination began here, as with so many firsts in film history, in the "Black Maria" at the Edison Laboratories. The Edison Company, American Mutoscope, the Lumière Company and probably just about every other filmmaker took to making actuality films, or documentaries, of firemen putting out fires, or they staged fire scenes such as the one here. Some filmmakers became fire-engine chasers; in one film, "Atlantic City Fire Department" (1897), the camera was accidentally run over by a horse-drawn fire engine. In early, multi-shot fictional story films, firefighting remained a popular subject, such as in James Williamson's "Fire!" (1901) and Edwin S. Porter's "Life of an American Fireman"(1903).

The production values within these 50 feet of film from 1894 and within the cramped space of the "Black Maria" shanty are quite remarkable. In under a minute, four firefighters, one of which is on a ladder and another holding a hose spraying water, rescue two children from what spectators would assume to be the second story of a burning building located out of frame. (Of course, there was no two-story structure within the "Black Maria".) Smoke covers most of the background of the scene, except for, the careful viewer will notice, the "R" logo in the lower lefthand corner, which stands for Raff & Gammon, who funded this Edison Company production. This film must have been rather exciting to spectators peeking through the peepholes of the Kinetoscopes; in a way, "Fire Rescue Scene" was the 19th Century equivalent of the big action flick, complete with the special effect of smoke.

Footage of fire-fighters in action quickly became one of the popular genres of 1890s motion pictures, and this very short feature is one of the very earliest examples. Unlike most of the later movies of similar subjects, it was filmed in the studio rather than outdoors. Yet it is still successful for its time in conveying the inherent sense of danger and urgency that made the fire-fighting genre popular to begin with.

The footage of "Fire Rescue Scene" consists of a staged enactment of a typical rescue operation, most likely using real professional fire-fighters, in which one of the fire-fighters uses a ladder to reach residents trapped in a burning building. By using children as the endangered residents, it adds extra tension and suspense. The then-standard 50 foot length of film limits how much can happen, but it fills almost the entire running time with action.

It must have been both difficult and hazardous to stage such a scene inside Edison's 'Black Maria' studio, but they were able to pull it off. The thick smoke is effective, and only the lack of any background detail limits the realism.

It was not long before film-makers realized that outdoor photography worked better for features like this, and soon many movies would be made of live fire-fighting scenes as well as staged enactments, with almost all of them being filmed outside of a studio. This pioneering effort, though, is quite creditable for its time.

Because of being the first film company to open in the US, the Edison Manufacturing Co. was often the initiator of several popular film genres during the first years of cinema. (Ironically, as time went on, they actually began to do the opposite and began stealing other filmmakers' ideas rather than creating their own). By having Annabelle Moore and other popular vaudeville dancers come to the studio, they initiated the dance genre, variations of which were copied again and again by such studios as Pathé and Star Film. They also promoted the notorious boxing fad, by having such champions as James J. Corbett, Mike Leonard and others come to the Black Maria to perform a match for the camera; interestingly enough, this genre (mostly made popular by the Edison company themselves) gave rise to the world's first feature film of 1897. They even began the 'blacksmith' film genre in "Blacksmith Scene" of 1893, which was later copied by Lumière in 1895 and by Méliès in 1896.

Believe it or not, they also were responsible for starting the firefighting genre, a genre so popular that it later became elaborated on in some of the first story films by Williamson in England and also by Edison himself. That's right, the fad began with this very film, a 20-second clip of a staged fire rescue. (After all, the chances of a cameraman being able to shoot this close to the action is very unlikely). Quite honestly, it's a little hard to believe this short was made in 1894: don't forget, Dickson's and Heise's output in that same year was very focused on promoting the fads of the day into motion pictures. (Indeed, that alone is how the dance genre started). Here, the film is not a stage routine or display of skill as is typical of the studio's previous work. It is a fictitious film, quite realistically portrayed, with 'fine smoke effects' (as the catalogue states) and a good amount of danger and suspense to top it off. Furthermore, the Edison crew deserves plenty of credit for doing such a good job in the cramped studio they had to work in. The location is meant to take place outdoors, and even with a lack of detail it still doesn't do a bad job.

The film is staged to show some firemen (maybe real, as some people like to think, but just as likely factory workers from Edison's crew dressed up) saving trapped children from a burning building--which remains unseen because of the lack of one in the first place. The smoke effects, as the catalogue says, are quite spectacular but almost appear too thick to be real. In addition, having the other firemen waiting down below demonstrates how short the ladder really is, which can be pointed out if one was to use their head enough. Still, these are all minor details to be noticed and when you add all of the higher points together (like the smoke and suspense), it does come of as pretty well done--and very creditable for a film of that year.

Soon after the year 1896 began for the Edison studios, they abandoned the boring black backgrounds of the Black Maria and went on, as the Lumières did, to shoot documentary scenes outdoors. It was that year that the firefighting films really began to start becoming popular, as the crew was able to capture true footage of firemen in action. These included many 'going to the rescue' films, such as "A Morning Alarm", "The Morning Alarm", and "Going to the Fire", and many fake reenactments of rescue scenes, such as "Firemen Rescuing Men and Women" of 1899. Eventually, James Williamson was able to develop these different types of firefighter scenes into his five-scene narrative film "Fire!", made seven years after the genre was first initiated; but until then, one-shot movies of firemen were enough. Audiences enjoyed the action and suspense, and did not care one bit about a lack of story.

Fire Rescue Scene (1894)

If you're looking for a film from the 1890's to start off with then you'd be good right here. This Edison short clocks in under thirty-seconds but it sees some local firemen working to rescue a woman. The great thing about this film is that the camera is right where the action is taking place and manages to capture the moment that a woman is brought down the ladder and to safety. These type of films were very popular back in the day and this here is one of the best since the blaze and smoke is right there in front of the camera.

The Edison team of William Heise and W.K.L. Dickson work together to create this short film. It features a firemn, standing on a ladder, rescuing children from a burning building. He hands the children to another fireman, while smoke twirls around them.

Various firefighting themes where very popular during the beginnings of film. From staged runs of fire trucks to short scenes of firemen rescuing victims, people from the turn-of-the-century loved watching anything to do with firefighting. Heise would go on to film other firefighting movies, such as "The Morning Alarm".

I give it a 2 out of 10 as an important early short film.